Post by Okwes on Apr 14, 2008 13:40:23 GMT -5
Tis the season for gardening...what are you planting this year? Min
NEW TOWN, N.D. (AP) - Amy Mossett and a growing number of Fort Berthold
tribal members are reviving gardening practices that
survived for
thousands of years before fading in the 1950s.
"Traditional gardening is planting the seeds that were
native and
planted by our people for centuries," Mossett said. "It
was such an
integral part of our lives. The gardening was so
important to our
people. It really defined who we are."
Some reservation families never stopped planting
traditional gardens
bearing native corn, beans and squash. But in recent
years, more
American Indians have become involved in gardening,
either with
contemporary crop strains or historic varieties.
Fort Berthold Community College employees helped till
50 new garden
plots on the reservation last year. This summer,
workers plowed more
than 100. Next summer, they expect to cultivate another
200 plots, said
Ron Cline, soil and plant science
specialist in the college's agricultural department.
There are several reasons for the gardening revival on
Fort Berthold,
officials say. They include an effort by the college to
give tribal
members greater access to fresh produce, a rising
interest nationwide in
native seed stock and more people learning about
the role gardening played in tribal history.
"The gardens were the principal thing that kept our
culture together,"
said Gerard Baker, a Mandan-Hidatsa and a National Park
Service
superintendent in Omaha, Neb.
The Mandan once were the center of trade on the Great
Plains.
"The garden crops became an important element in the
trade. As the trade
grew, we evolved into a major trade network," said
Mossett.
Tribes traded everything from meat to horses in
exchange for garden
harvests.
"My understanding of the corn gardens back then is they
were as big as
football fields," Baker said.
The crops helped build a solid economic foundation and
social structure
for the tribe.
When the Hidatsa and Arikara tribes settled with the
Mandan, they
brought their gardening expertise with them. Each tribe
has distinct
vegetable varieties.
One of the most well-known gardeners was Buffalo Bird
Woman, a Hidatsa
whose stories were told to Gilbert L. Wilson and
printed in two books,
"Waheenee" and "Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden."
"It's one of the major sources of information about
Indian gardens we
have in the United States," said Fred Schneider, a
University of North
Dakota anthropology professor.
Buffalo Bird Woman told dozens of detailed stories
about the gardens and
her people.
The corn gardens were like their children, especially
to the women,"
said Baker. "It was part of the family. The fields were
alive as the
people, who held ideas that they were sacred and that
they had spirits
and they would have to be treated like human beings,
like children. They
would sing to them, too."
--
Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.21.7/1332 - Release Date: 03/17/2008 10:48 AM
NEW TOWN, N.D. (AP) - Amy Mossett and a growing number of Fort Berthold
tribal members are reviving gardening practices that
survived for
thousands of years before fading in the 1950s.
"Traditional gardening is planting the seeds that were
native and
planted by our people for centuries," Mossett said. "It
was such an
integral part of our lives. The gardening was so
important to our
people. It really defined who we are."
Some reservation families never stopped planting
traditional gardens
bearing native corn, beans and squash. But in recent
years, more
American Indians have become involved in gardening,
either with
contemporary crop strains or historic varieties.
Fort Berthold Community College employees helped till
50 new garden
plots on the reservation last year. This summer,
workers plowed more
than 100. Next summer, they expect to cultivate another
200 plots, said
Ron Cline, soil and plant science
specialist in the college's agricultural department.
There are several reasons for the gardening revival on
Fort Berthold,
officials say. They include an effort by the college to
give tribal
members greater access to fresh produce, a rising
interest nationwide in
native seed stock and more people learning about
the role gardening played in tribal history.
"The gardens were the principal thing that kept our
culture together,"
said Gerard Baker, a Mandan-Hidatsa and a National Park
Service
superintendent in Omaha, Neb.
The Mandan once were the center of trade on the Great
Plains.
"The garden crops became an important element in the
trade. As the trade
grew, we evolved into a major trade network," said
Mossett.
Tribes traded everything from meat to horses in
exchange for garden
harvests.
"My understanding of the corn gardens back then is they
were as big as
football fields," Baker said.
The crops helped build a solid economic foundation and
social structure
for the tribe.
When the Hidatsa and Arikara tribes settled with the
Mandan, they
brought their gardening expertise with them. Each tribe
has distinct
vegetable varieties.
One of the most well-known gardeners was Buffalo Bird
Woman, a Hidatsa
whose stories were told to Gilbert L. Wilson and
printed in two books,
"Waheenee" and "Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden."
"It's one of the major sources of information about
Indian gardens we
have in the United States," said Fred Schneider, a
University of North
Dakota anthropology professor.
Buffalo Bird Woman told dozens of detailed stories
about the gardens and
her people.
The corn gardens were like their children, especially
to the women,"
said Baker. "It was part of the family. The fields were
alive as the
people, who held ideas that they were sacred and that
they had spirits
and they would have to be treated like human beings,
like children. They
would sing to them, too."
--
Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.21.7/1332 - Release Date: 03/17/2008 10:48 AM